"After 34 years, the Dickens Project is still going strong and it has a glorious future too".

John Jordan is a UC Santa Cruz Literature Professor and director/co-founder of the Dickens Project. A scholarly consortium headquartered at UC Santa Cruz, The Dickens Project consists of members from more than 40 universities across the United States and around the globe. It is internationally recognized as the premier center for Dickens studies in the world and is one of the leading sites for research on 19th-century British culture.

The Project hosts the annual Dickens Universe, a unique week long event that brings together a wide array of participants from across the country--ranging from college faculty and students, to high school teachers and anyone else with an inclination or yearning to study Dickens.

John retired from the UC Santa Cruz faculty a year ago, but remained on as Dickens Project Director. He has made a bequest that will support the Dickens endowment to ensure it exists in perpetuity on the UC Santa Cruz campus. "Now in its 34th year of operation, the Dickens Project is a remarkable institution," John noted. "It supports innovative research on Dickens and 19th-century culture, it promotes the professional development of graduate students, and it provides outreach to a large cross-section of the general public."

Thanks to John's leadership, the Dickens Project has flourished, and thanks to his planned gift, the Project will continue to thrive at UC Santa Cruz in the future.